Email Service Snowden Reportedly Used Shuts Down To 'Defend The Constitution' And Avoid Aiding An Investigation

Journalists and activists received an email invitation from
Edward Snowden for a briefing in Moscow last month. The email was
sent from the account, edsnowden@lavabit.com,
an invitee tells Forbes.

Now that email
provider, Lavabit, is being
shut down. The reason: its founder, Ladar Levison, says the
government wants his company's help in an investigation and he
doesn't feel comfortable cooperating. Instead, he's choosing to
"defend the constitution."

Levison is
under gag order, so he can't say what, specifically, the
government is investigating. Presumably it's investigating
Snowden.

Here's the
message Levison has put up on Lavabit's site:

My Fellow Users,

I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become
complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from
nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After
significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations.
I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to
my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going
on--the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom
to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has
passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I
cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though
I have twice made the appropriate requests.

What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the
paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow
me resurrect Lavabit as an American company.

This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without
congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would
_strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data
to a company with physical ties to the United States.

Sincerely,
Ladar Levison
Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLC

Defending the constitution is expensive! Help us by donating to
the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund here.